Yarmouth schools face $1.1M subsidy loss

YARMOUTH — Preliminary reports from the Department of Education show Yarmouth will receive $1.1 million less in state aid for education in fiscal year 2010-2011.

Superintendent of Schools Judy Paolucci said while the preliminary numbers are close to what she expected, she thought the loss may be a bit larger.

“When I opened the file, I held my breath,” she said. “If it was more than we expected, we’d have to adjust the budget. As it is, we have been preparing for this.”

Paolucci said the district has been working to make significant reductions since a curtailment order was announced last November. The School Department had to find $519,000 in funding that was reduced halfway through the school year.

To handle the curtailment, Yarmouth implemented a spending freeze and has not filled vacant staff positions. Paolucci said she would like to present a fiscal year 2011 budget without spending increases to the Town Council for the 2011 budget, but is concerned the reductions in state aid will make that difficult.

The money may have to come from other sources such as taxes, she said.

“As a homeowner, I don’t want to increase taxes,” she said. “We have worked hard to keep costs low, but the money is going to have to come from somewhere.”

The School Board will adopt a budget Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Log Cabin.